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Apr 19, 2012

Q is for Quest

Emily has an assignment to plot out a quest novel (what a cool teacher she must have!) and write the last chapter. This is very good timing for me, as I needed a Q word for today.

The Quest is a common story structure involving a character on a search for... something. It can even be an internal something (forgiveness, confidence, etc). Or it might be a literal quest (find the holy grail, return the sword of Okinesphere to its rightful place, save a princes). Often this is referred to as The Hero's Journey. Basically the 'hero' (they might not start out very heroic) will receive a 'call to action' (sometimes a shove) and be on their quest, with some magical help/advice from a wizard/elder. They will face challenges, opponents and bad hair days. The story will peak when they are in their darkest time (down a pit, facing an uber-bad guy, or just apparently failing all over) it will seem there is no hope for our hero to succeed. But then they find that inner strength/forgotten sword of Okinesphere/Bad guys secret weakness to overcome this doom and gloom stage and rise up to fight one more time. The final battle usually ends in success (but not always) and the hero returns to the start of the story, only this time changed forever in some way.

There are whole books dedicated to this structure and I sometimes use it for my writing workshops for kids.

This is a must see learning site - you can choose your characters and fill out the story prompts to plot out your hero's journey. Designed for school kids, but awesome for any writer, especially beginners wanting a helpful push. Check out:

And here's a chart you can fill out for your own Hero's Journey - just click on it for the full size and print (I found this at ReadingArt.Info):

If you like the picture of Katniss Everdeen, you'll love this blog that shows how The Hunger Games fits the Hero's Journey. After all, Katniss answers a call to action when her baby sister is put in danger.

I am fascinated by how the hero's journey ties so many cultures together through their myths and folk tales. And the basic template you can put on almost all stories. What does the main character want and by the end of the story does he or she get it? Even opera stories fit this template. Charts and diagrams help. But I think in the beginning, the idea floats out there and begins organizing itself.

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About Me

Brisbane author Charmaine Clancy loves to create characters for mystery, fantasy and adventure. All her stories are fictional, except maybe MY ZOMBIE DOG (some say to this day you can hear her dog softly moan the plea 'braaaains').

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NOVELS AND STATUS:

DOGNAPPED? A Dog Show Detective Mystery

*Available in Kindle! Paperback coming soon.

My Zombie Dog*Available in Kindle, Kobo and paperback.

Undead Kev

Following on from Zane's adventures in My Zombie Dog, now Kev is infected! To make matters worse, he is kidnapped by invisible stealth-monkeys and taken to a secret government laboratory. How will the boys get themselves out of this one?*WIP - Final edits - due for release in Oct.

The Warracknabeal Kids - Young scallywag and local copper's son living in rural Victoria in the 30's discovers a murder and tries to uncover the killer.*WIP - Editing for submission to publishers.

The Costume Maker - Three teens travel to another world filled with evil fairies, superstitious gypsies and mysterious natives, oh, and dragons.*Final Edit

Digging Up Death - Dusty Fields is a palaeontologist student who has the gift of seeing how creatures died when she touches their remains.*Finished First Draft

The Pirate Girl - Young Grace enlists the help of a stuffy Duke and a band of Pirates to rescue her father from England's Tower.*WIP First Draft

Egyptian curses, resurrection and dating for the 'modern' teenage goddess.